My name is Dave Stancliff. Walk down the road of life with me each day. You'll find news and my views. I'm a Vietnam Veteran, father to three sons, proud grandfather 5 times over, an independent thinker, and a former newspaper publisher and editor.

Friday, August 22, 2014

Reflections on the Possibility of a Republican Congress in November

Good Day World!

Have you ever heard the sound of a steel-trap smashing shut?

It’ll be the sound you’ll hear if the Republicans take over the Senate on Nov.4th. There’ll be a big rush of hot air and any chance President Obama had of passing meaningful legislation in the next two years will be gone.

Many forecasters now give Republicans a slightly better-than-even chance of winning control of the Senate. They are heavily favored to pick up open Democratic seats in South Dakota, Montana and West Virginia, and six other competitive races will be fought in conservative-leaning states that President Barack Obama lost when he ran for re-election in 2012.

How close are the Republicans to picking up the necessary six seats from the Democrats to win control of the 100-seat chamber? Close enough. They’ve shrugged off the stigma of the emerging Tea Party and people are going to take them more seriously now.

With no Todd Akin asserting victims of "legitimate rape" have the ability to block a pregnancy, the candidates look more legitimate . Without Richard Mourdock asserting pregnancy resulting from rape was something "God intended to happen," people may listen to their message now.

The Tea Party challengers failed to unseat any of the 12 sitting Republican senators who are up for re-election. It looks like the ill winds that bore the Tea Party along the last four years have shifted. They’ve been reduced to wearing 17th costumes and making outrageous claims.

Think about what will happen if the Republicans control Congress. Does anyone believe it will be a victory resulting in the common man winning? You might re-think the dynamics – or lack of – progress that will result.

How is that a win for the American people? It’s been tough enough to get meaningful legislation passed in the last four years with a Democratic Senate counter-balancing the House.

The only sound a Republican Congress will make is hallow echoes in the not-so-hallowed halls of our government. Of course, it’s the people who will suffer most when that trap is sprung.